Birds Do It. Bees Do It.

One of our county parks here in New Jersey has a wonderful display of honeybees. The bees created a hive, and the park rangers created a window so that visitors to the nature center could observe bees in their labor.

I like to press my ear to the glass for the low hum of the collective bees working through the honeycombs, tending to the queen, flying off for nectar in the next field of clovers, dandelions, berry bushes, and fruit trees. I like staring nearly eye to eye with the bees, watching them bump head to head, seeing their wings beat, observing their dialogue dances. They know how to accomplish their tasks. Doing just what they are supposed to do, they eventually create a hive filled with nutritious honey for the next generation.

If I could create a city or town just on the other side of a glass window, I would observe people the same way: building homes, collecting food, communicating . . . And tasks get done: towns grow, children thrive, people age. But unlike other living things, we human beings are programmed to do more than live and die.

A flower contributes to the bees’ existence. A flower withers and dies to spread its seeds for the next generation or rejuvenate itself in the roots and bulbs. We humans need purpose beyond the physical world for our lives . . . and our deaths. It is not enough to be born, ride bikes, graduate from high school, marry, find a brick house, raise children, and die. We need greater purpose. What we sometimes do not realize is that our lives’ purpose is in the actual doing.

Often, when I am exhausted and have to walk up a flight of stairs to a different department in my office building, I say aloud with each step: “Tuition, room, and board. Tuition, room, and board.” I have three children in college, and my labor each day goes toward the children, the house bills, the car payments. I just do what I have to do each day with the hopes that my children will find their way.

Service to God does not necessarily mean we have to run to church each day or sacrifice everything we have and become monks. Service to God can easily mean standing still in our daily lives, doing the best we can with our routines, burdens, and joys. And we will find our way.